Rocking chair with declining legs



Dec. 25, 1962A J. F. BABBITT 3,070,342

ROCKING CHAIR WITH DECLINING LEGS Filed April 23, 195)..` wmf/1 fffff -f f V)(SEAT 3 sEAT BAR 4 A FRONT SPRING -3 ,f BAsE BAR 2/ l I /"l' FIG l A BAsE l -J .l

INVENTOR JOHN E BABBITT ATTORNEY United States dPa,tsitit`ifff()1tilice 3,070,342 Patented Dec. 25, 1962 3,070,342 ROCKING CHAIR WITH DECLINING LEGS John F. Babbitt, Louisville, Ky., assignor to Middletown Manufacturing Company, Middletown, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky v Filed Apr. 23, 1959, Ser. No. 808,375 8 Claims. (Cl. 248-376) This invention relates to platform rocking chairs and more particularly to the hardware for rockably supporting a rocking chair seat on its base.

The U.S. Boenning patent, #585,422, discloses a simple and relatively inexpensive platform rocking chair com-4 prising: (a) a low lying platform base; (b) a'relatively elevated seat; (c) means rockably supporting the elevated seat on the low base, said means including, at each side of the chair, a pair of declining legs crossing each other with one leg declining rearwardly from the front end of the seat to the rear end of the base and the other de clining forwardly 4from vthe rear end of the seat tothe front end of the base, each leg being pivotally connected at its upper and lower ends to the seat and the `base respectively; and (d) a horizontal tension spring interconnecting the legs at a horizontal level below their,

rear limit of the seat, they constitute an obstruction tol travel around the rear of the rocker.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a simple and relatively inexpensive Boenning type of rocker of improved design which does not require the extension of the rearwardly declining legs beyond the rear limitsA of the seat. In other words, this object is to minimize tilting in the aforesaid type of chair when its rearwardly and forwardly declined legs are substantially conned to the space between vertical planes corresponding to the front and rear limits of the seat. l

Another important object is to provide a chair of this general type which can be easily, simply and quickly adjusted to accommodate occupants of different weights and heights over wide ranges.

A further object is to accomplish the foregoing objectives with simple and .inexpensive means.

In accordance with my invention, the front and rear end portions of the seat are yieldably -connected to the front and rear end portions of the base by front and rear tension springs. The front spring can be made of equal or greater ,strength than the rear spring so long as its strength is'great enough', not to prevent tilting over, but, to minimize the possibility of rocking rearwardly to such a pronounced degree that tilting becomes possible. Furthermore, by making the tension of the front springs adjustable, the chair may be made comfortably to accommodate use by occupants of different weights and heights over wide ranges of weights and of heights.

The invention is described in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. l is a side elevation of the platform rocker hardware located in its normal intermediate position and showing a platformI rocking chair base and seat in dotted lines;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the hardware shown in solid lines in a rearwardly rocked position and in dotted lines in a forwardly rocked position;

soA

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on line= 3-3 of FIG. 1; and n 'f FIG. 4 is a side elevation `of a slightly modiedform of rocker.

FIGS. 1-3

The rocking chair-structure illustrated comprises: `a pair of horizontally-extending, low-lying stationary bases 1, one' for each side of the chair, these bases preferably being suitably vinterconnected by brace bars- (not shown) to form a rigid platform, eachbase lhaving a base bar 2 extending from front to rear on its upper face; a hori-A zontal seat 3 havlng'a pair of seatbaits 4 mounted on its` underside, one for each-side of thechaireach seat bar 4 extending from front to rear; and means rockably supporting the elevated seat 3"on the base 1said means including, at each side of the chair, a pair of declining ylegs' 5, 6 crossing each other with one leg 5 declining rear# wardly fromthe front yend of the seat bar 4 to the rear end of the corresponding base bar 2and the other legj declining forwardly ifrom the rear end olfthes'eatA baurfft tothe frontend of the base bar'"2,'"a'ch lleg, '6' being pivotally connected at its upper and lower ends to the seat and the base respectively. The intermediate or crossing portions of the leg may be relatively offset as indicated at v7 andA 8 in FIG. 3 to allow thernto'swingl freelywith, out interfering with each other.

In accordance with my invention, the front and rear end portions of thel s eat are yieldably connected to-"the front and rear end portions of the base by frontl and rear tension springs 11- 12. When means are provided to mount these springs in or near a plane passing vertically and centrally between its opposite sides, only one set of. springs` need be used.. Preferably, `however, two sets of. springs are provided, one for each side.,4- The front-spring 11 can be of equal orgreater strength than the rear spring 12 so long as its strength is great; enough to minimize the possibility of rocking rearwardly; to such a pronounced degree that tilting over becomes; eminent or actually occurs. In other words, the springs.. do not prevent tilting over but they tend to restrict the rocking movement of the chair to a safe limit underwhich tilting over is not encountered. ln further accordance with my inventiommeansis provided to adjust 'the' tension of thefront springs hso,that-*tirez chair may be made to accommodate, with comfort, use by occupants of different weightsor heights overwidej ranges.` Whileanysuitable tension means may be ern-' ployed, the 'arrangement illustrated includes the'use" of an eye bolt 13 to connect the4 lower end ofthe frontv spring 11 to the front end of the base .bar 2 and a wing: nut 14 adjustably threaded to the eye bolt 13 in positionto anchor it to the base bar 2. The Ystrength of the front spring preferably should equal or exceed that of the rear spring and be of a valuefv sufficient to render the-chair unable to tilt over'in' the rear" ward direction for all practical purposes. O'vert'ilt'in the forward direction is not so important because its prevention is largely under the control of the user; hence, the rear spring 12 may be and preferably is made weaker than the front spring. So long as rocking in the rearward direction is yieldably restrained to a safe value or limit, both of the rearwardly declining legs 5 of the chair can be satisfactorily confined substantially to the vertical space between front and rear planes of the front and rear edges of the seat. However, a spring, which, at the safe rearward rocking limit of the chair, is strong enough to prevent the chair from being readily rocked to an unsafe degree by an adult of 200 to 250 lbs. weight (or 61/2 to 7.0 feet in height), for example, may be too strong to prevent the comfortable use of that chair by a person weighing, say, to 100 lbs. (or standing 5.0 to

J */2 feet in height). But if the front spring is made adjustable, it becomes easily and quickly possible to make the chair comfortably usable by a person of relatively light weight or small height over the maximum safe rocking movement without any danger of exceeding the safe limits.

It will be obvious that the front spring ll-may interconnect the front ends of the two base bars 2, 4 or the front ends of the two legs 5, 6 or the front end of the base bar 2 with the rearwardly declining leg 5 or the front end of the seat bar `4 with the front end of the forwardly declining leg 6. Consequently, if we view the base bar 2 and the lower ends of the legs 5 and 6 (with or without the base 1), as constituting the base structure and seat bar 4 and the upper ends of the legs 5 and 6 (with or with, out the seat 3), as constituting the seat structure, it will be appreciated that the front tension spring 11, broadly, may yieldably interconnect the front ends of the seat and base structures, and that the rear tension spring 12, broadly, may yieldably interconnect the rear ends of the seat and base structures.

Finally, it may be noted that the rear and front springs should never be completely relaxed but, on the contrary, should have a minimum tension sufficient to prevent the spring noise which occurs during rocking when a relaxed spring is tightened.

FIG. 4

The rocking chair hardware structure illustrated in FIG. 4 differs from that shown in FIGS. l-3 only in that the FIG. 4 base bar 2 is increased in length to project to a greater extent both rearwardly and forwardly while its front end is bent to incline forwardly upward at a point approximately mid-way between the base pivot 6a of leg 6 and the extreme front end of the base bar 2. This does not make any significant change in operation but is desirable because it enables the front spring hardware attachment to be more successfully concealed when the chair is rocked.

It is desirable to adjust chairs of this type to the height of the occupant as well as to the weight of the occupant. It will be well understood that all structure illustrated in the drawing except the base 1 and seat 3 may `be and preferably is composed of metal.l i

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A rocking chair comprising: a base; a relatively elevated seat; means rockably supporting the seat on that base, said means including a pair of crossed legs, one declining rearwardly from the front end of the seat to the rear end of the base and the other declining forwardly from the rear end of the seat to the front end of the base, each leg being pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the seat and base respectively, the midportion of one leg being laterally spaced from the other leg; the base and the lower ends of the legs constituting a base structure; the seat and the upper ends of the legs constituting aA seat structure; and spring means yieldably restraining the rocking action of the seat on the base, said spring means including a front tension spring yieldably interconnecting the front ends of the seat and base structures v hardware member; a relatively elevated seat bar hardware member; hardware means rockably supporting the seat hardware member on the base hardware member, said hardware means including a pair of crossed legs, one declining rearwardly from the front end of the seat hardware member to the rear end of the base hardware member and the other declining forwardly from the rear end of the seat hardware member to the front end of the base hardware member, each leg being pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the seat hardware member and base hardware member respectively, the midportion of one leg being laterally spaced from the other leg, the base hardware member and lower end portions of the legs constituting a base hardware structure; the seat hardware member and the upper end portions of the legs constituting a seat hardware structure; and spring means yieldably restraining the rocking action of the seat hardware member on the base hardware member, said spring means including a front tension spring yieldably interconnecting the front ends of the seat hardware and base hardware structures and a rear tension spring yieldably interconnecting the rear ends of the seat hardware and base hardware structures.

5. The hardware of claim 4 wherein: the front spring is less yieldable than the rear spring.

6. The hardware of claim 4 including: means for adjusting the yieldability of the front spring to accommodate occupants of ditferent size.

7. The hardware of claim 6 wherein: said front spring interconnects the front ends of the seat hardware member and the base hardware member while said rear spring yieldably interconnects the rear ends of said seat hardware member and said base hardware member.

8. The hardware of claim 4 wherein: the midportion of each leg is offset relative to its end portions.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 182,845 Mohr Oct. 3, 1876 365,288 Wicker June 21, 1887 459,653 Sampson Sept. l5, 1891 585,422 Boenning June 29, 1897 2,277,875 Macbeth Mar. 3l, 1942 2,529,638 Spradlen Nov. 14, 1950 2,810,428 Plese Oct. 22, 1957 2,813,574 Hawkins Nov. 19, 1957 2,964,095 Hoffman et al Dec. 13, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 401,654 France Aug. 2, 1909 

